L.A. County experiences major disruptions on first day of strike

[ad_1] Tens of 1000's of Los Angeles County staff walked off their jobs and onto picket strains Tuesday, amid what their union described as a failure by the county to pretty discount for a brand new contract.

SEIU Native 721, which represents roughly 55,000 staff, started a two-day strike Monday night with social staff, nurses, clerical staff and different public staff strolling off the job. The union mentioned that is the primary time in county historical past that each one its members have joined a strike.

Consequently, libraries, nonurgent well being clinics and parks are closed. Public service counters all through the county might be shifting extra slowly. Wildfire particles clearance could also be paused.

A sea of staff in SEIU Native 721’s signature royal purple T-shirts descended on the county Corridor of Administration in downtown L.A. on Tuesday for a rally marking the primary full day of the strike.

Mike Lengthy, a spokesperson for the union, mentioned 14 members had been arrested for refusing to disperse at a march after the rally, a tactic, he mentioned, meant to underscore the severity of the scenario.

The impetus for the strike, union leaders mentioned, was 44 labor regulation violations allegedly dedicated by the county, together with retaliation and contracting of jobs which are purported to be stuffed by union staff. Union members mentioned they had been additionally insulted by the pay provided by county officers, who've mentioned they'll’t afford vital will increase attributable to a dizzying variety of monetary woes.

<img class="image" alt="SEIU Local 721 rally and march" srcset="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/4ea65b1/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/320x213!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2b%2F83%2Ff8557afa4c5ba0e620d7e05dbf1f%2F1504267-me-union-members-walk-off-ces-3767.jpg 320w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e5d0488/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/568x379!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2b%2F83%2Ff8557afa4c5ba0e620d7e05dbf1f%2F1504267-me-union-members-walk-off-ces-3767.jpg 568w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/00bf01e/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/768x512!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2b%2F83%2Ff8557afa4c5ba0e620d7e05dbf1f%2F1504267-me-union-members-walk-off-ces-3767.jpg 768w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/6df4f5d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/1024x683!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2b%2F83%2Ff8557afa4c5ba0e620d7e05dbf1f%2F1504267-me-union-members-walk-off-ces-3767.jpg 1024w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7b7ed9b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/1200x800!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2b%2F83%2Ff8557afa4c5ba0e620d7e05dbf1f%2F1504267-me-union-members-walk-off-ces-3767.jpg 1200w" sizes="100vw" width="1200" height="800" src="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7b7ed9b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2000+0+0/resize/1200x800!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2b%2F83%2Ff8557afa4c5ba0e620d7e05dbf1f%2F1504267-me-union-members-walk-off-ces-3767.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy"/> A sea of SEIU Native 721 hanging staff rally and march in downtown Los Angles on Tuesday, April 29, 2025.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Occasions)

“Does anybody bear in mind what they tried to present us within the fall? Zeroes,” mentioned union head David Inexperienced as staff dinged purple cowbells on the downtown rally. “Will we deserve zeros?”

L.A. County Chief Govt Fesia Davenport mentioned county officers have “moved off” a zero increase provide in current weeks however remained cautious about what they might provide.

“We don’t wish to negotiate ourselves right into a structural deficit,” Davenport mentioned in an interview Monday. “We wish to maintain the road.”

In any other case, she mentioned, the county might need to chop positions down the highway, much like what Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has proposed. Final week, Bass launched a price range proposal that included 1,650 layoffs to assist shut a virtually $1-billion deficit fueled partly by worker raises the town agreed to final 12 months.

The county mentioned it's now providing SEIU Native 721 members a $5,000 bonus within the first 12 months of the contract, in addition to a cost-of-living adjustment and a further bonus.

<img class="image" alt="Members of SEIU Local 721 on strike" srcset="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/89cd732/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2001+0+0/resize/320x213!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F09%2F4e%2F8bdfe76e4631a27e71288d36d7bf%2F1504267-me-union-members-walk-off-ces-1337.jpg 320w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0c4fdb3/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2001+0+0/resize/568x379!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F09%2F4e%2F8bdfe76e4631a27e71288d36d7bf%2F1504267-me-union-members-walk-off-ces-1337.jpg 568w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/152e6cd/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2001+0+0/resize/768x512!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F09%2F4e%2F8bdfe76e4631a27e71288d36d7bf%2F1504267-me-union-members-walk-off-ces-1337.jpg 768w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9b834bc/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2001+0+0/resize/1024x683!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F09%2F4e%2F8bdfe76e4631a27e71288d36d7bf%2F1504267-me-union-members-walk-off-ces-1337.jpg 1024w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/8602412/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2001+0+0/resize/1200x800!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F09%2F4e%2F8bdfe76e4631a27e71288d36d7bf%2F1504267-me-union-members-walk-off-ces-1337.jpg 1200w" sizes="100vw" width="1200" height="800" src="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/8602412/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x2001+0+0/resize/1200x800!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F09%2F4e%2F8bdfe76e4631a27e71288d36d7bf%2F1504267-me-union-members-walk-off-ces-1337.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy"/> Valencia Simpson (left) and Asiata Adekunle Murtala (proper) march down the road with 1000's of hanging SEIU Native 721 members in Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 29, 2025.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Occasions)

“The County is providing what we imagine is a good three-year compensation bundle, contemplating the large budgetary pressures we face,” Davenport’s workplace mentioned in a press release.

Steve Koffroth, SEIU’s chief contract negotiator, mentioned the county waited till the final second to reply to the union’s first proposal for a brand new contract. The earlier contract expired on the finish of March.

“We received it to them earlier than Christmas, and so they sat on it for months,” Koffroth instructed the booing crowd.

When county officers made a counteroffer, he mentioned, “they got here with a pittance.”

The county had initially mentioned it couldn’t afford raises this 12 months due to wildfire prices, a large intercourse abuse settlement and the lack of federal grants. Davenport mentioned the union’s preliminary wage proposals may have price the county billions of {dollars}.

Union members allege the county has spent an excessive amount of cash on exterior contract staff relatively than filling 1000's of vacancies. Many audio system on the rally pointed to a union-led examine final December that discovered the county spent billions on non-public companies, in what amounted to a “taxpayer-to-private-sector-pipeline.”

The county dismissed the report as a “deceptive and inaccurate” negotiation tactic.

Union members mentioned the reliance on contractors has been significantly obvious in healthcare, the place they mentioned that vacancies are quickly stuffed by extremely paid contract staff.

“How would you're feeling if somebody comes into your hospital for 3 weeks and makes 4 instances your wage and leaves you,” mentioned Theresa Velasco, a member of the union’s govt board, who works as a neighborhood well being employee at Rancho Los Amigos, the county rehabilitation hospital.